Over the last few weeks, I have been begun a new semester of teaching an undergraduate introduction to literature and film analysis. My students are learning how to talk about, in Spanish, the various cultural currents and trends in the last century in Latin America. Recently we discussed the following basic questions:
Why do we as human beings tell stories?
Why do human beings make art?
When we talk about art what are we talking about? What is your definition?
Here are some of my students’ responses for your consideration:
- We tell stories because they teach basic lessons in a fun way.
- Humans create art because it is fun, and it is a good way to express our emotions.
- When we talk about art we are talking about other people's creations.
- I think the reason why we tell stories is because people can read the stories and know more about the world and the lives of others.
- A reason why I think humans create art is to express emotions. When a person cannot say things with words, a person can express it with art.
- When we talk about art, we are talking about the perspectives that art reveals to us. Each person has a different idea and perspective on art.
- I believe we tell stories because we need to know the history of human beings to know what can help our problems today, and what won't help.
- I believe that human beings create art because it is a type of communicating with people on a more directly human level.
- Art for me is an expression of ideas, emotions, and stories shared by other humans in a type of communication that is more personal than just directly telling someone the reason why something happened. This way you can discover what others have experiences by looking at their experience through their creative expression.
- We tell stories to remember and show people's different experiences. They show and help you to learn lessons. We tell stories to know people's perspectives. It helps to have empathy.
- I believe that human beings create art to express opinions and emotions on specific topics.
- I think that to be an art form it must be a creation that expresses opinions or emotions. Art is a way to show your ideas. It is a way of perceiving the world.
- We tell stories to pass information and experiences to other people. We tell stories so that we can connect with other people and so that others can understand more about us.
- I think that human beings create art to express themselves. That means expressing feelings, opinions, and understandings about the world that they live in and the experiences they have as well. It is a way to link thoughts in physical form so that others can also understand something about the artist.
- When we are talking about art, we are talking about an artist's way of expressing themselves artistically, that is, in a different and unique way that is their own way.
These seemingly simple questions have inspired the creation of many a tome of poetry and prose, as well as countless texts regarding the interpretation and meaning of artistic works within their discursive and historic milieu. These same questions are important for us, as makers of art and as interpreters and critics of art, to rehash from time to time.
I think for some of us it has been years since we have thought about these questions that have defined our lives.
I would love to hear your thoughts, based on your experiences, to see if in all of our collected experience with art creation, art history, art criticism, we have established a more nuanced understanding of the reasons we do what we do.
Perhaps when we ask questions such as “Why do we as human beings tell stories?” “Why do human beings make art?” and “When we talk about art what are we talking about?”, we might as well be asking why we breathe.
If we stop breathing, we’ll die. If we stop making, discussing and writing about art, our individual worlds would die. Is it really that heroic or is there something else?
Let me know what you think.
Peter Tanner teaches Spanish Language and Literature at Utah State University and is Editor of Openings: Studies in Book Art. He has a Ph.D. in Latin American literature, an MA in Latin American Art History, and a BFA in Painting and Printmaking. His research focuses on artist books from Latin America.
